Somerset (TV Series)

''Somerset'' (sometimes called ''Another World in Somerset'' or ''Another World: Somerset'') is an American television soap opera which ran on NBC from March 30, 1970, until December 31, 1976. The show was a spin-off of another NBC serial, '' Another World''. The show was created by Robert Cenedella and was produced by Lyle B Hill.

Overview

Initially, the show revolved around Melissa "Missy" Palmer Matthews (Carol Roux), Lahoma Vane Lucas (Ann Wedgeworth) and Sam Lucas (Jordan Charney). These were three popular characters who were first seen on ''Another World''. They moved to the fictional town of Somerset, an area in the northern Detroit suburbs in Michigan and started their lives anew.

The first stories on the serial revolved around the trio's progress in starting new friendships and romantic entanglements. In Somerset, the other families of importance were the Davis family, the Buchanans, the Grants and the Delaneys, who ran Somerset's major employer, Delaney Brands. Within six months, Missy was gone and new characters were added, including a new family, the Kurtz family and several female characters to act as love interests for Dr. Stan Kurtz and Peter Delaney.

In early 1971, the show changed writers, with Robert Cenedella leaving the show in favor of Henry Slesar.

Further, ''Somerset'' slowly moved away from the traditional soap format, and started telling stories that dealt heavily with the Mafia and other types of crime, not unlike CBS' ''The Edge of Night'' which Slesar also wrote. After the departure of Slesar, several other writers attempted to bring the show's ratings up with varying mixtures of the two previous formats, each of them slowly removing nearly all of the original characters. One of them, Roy Winsor, was the creator of ''Search for Tomorrow,'' ''Love of Life,'' and ''The Secret Storm.''

The Somerset County Courthouse in Somerville, New Jersey, was used for exteriors.

Broadcast history

NBC and packager Procter & Gamble Productions first launched ''Somerset'' as an extension of the mother show, adding the locales to each program's title. They titled the parent program ''Another World in Bay City'' and the new spinoff ''Another World in Somerset'', in the hope that the large loyal following of the mother show, which aired an hour earlier than ''Somerset'' at 3:00 p.m./2 Central, would stay tuned for several of their favorite characters to appear in a new storyline. By March 1971, NBC shortened the title to simply ''Somerset'' and reverted ''Another World'' to its original title, separating the two shows' identities and eventually phasing out the crossover characters by February 1972. Roux and Wedgeworth did not return to ''Another World''; Charney returned to the mother program in July 1973.

Airing in a time slot prone to affiliate pre-exemption (4:00/3:00 Central) caused ''Somerset'' to struggle throughout the whole of its 6¾-year history to gain a foothold in the daytime pantheon. ABC's ''Dark Shadows'' held the ratings and clearances lead at the time ''Somerset'' went on the air, but the unpopular "Leviathan" and "Parallel Time" storylines coincided with the premiere of ''Somerset''. This enabled NBC's new show to push the ratings of ''Dark Shadows'' down considerably, and ''Somerset'' achieved promising ratings during its first year. ''Dark Shadows'' had achieved a rating of 7.3 during the 1969-1970 season, but by the end of the 1970-1971 season, ''Somerset'' had a rating of 7.0 and ''Dark Shadows'' a rating of 5.3. A successful revival of the game show ''Password'' entered ABC's schedule at that slot during the 1970-71 season, and its ratings success cut into the ''Somerset'' audience. Ratings did improve somewhat during the Slesar period (CBS' ''The Secret Storm'' ended a long run against ''Somerset''), but after the end of a successful murder storyline in late 1971, the show's ratings began to stagnate or decline.

By 1974, the other networks had plugged in surprisingly strong game shows (CBS' ''Tattletales'' and ABC's ''The $10,000 Pyramid'') at 4:00 p.m. As a result, numerous affiliates began preempting the program in favor of cartoons, syndicated programming (including game shows, sitcom reruns, variety shows or talk shows), old movies, and sometimes locally-produced content. Perhaps the nail in ''Somerset's'' coffin came when ABC acquired ''The Edge of Night'' from CBS in December 1975 due to CBS' expansion of ''As the World Turns'' to an hour in length, itself a response of sorts to NBC eleven months earlier expanding ''Another World'' to a full hour and its NBC sister soap ''Days of Our Lives'' likewise three months later, with both expansions being successful. ABC placed ''The Edge of Night'' against ''Somerset'' in the 4:00 p.m. time slot. Although ''Somerset's'' ratings had improved during its final year, under the guidance of new head writer Robert J. Shaw, they were ultimately not enough to save the program from cancellation. NBC announced the cancellation of the program in the fall of 1976, and the show aired for the 1,710th and final time on New Year's Eve. ''Somersets place on the NBC daytime schedule was given to ''The Gong Show,'' which became a popular-culture phenomenon eventually. The latter series' timeslot, 12:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. Central), was given to a new Procter and Gamble-packaged soap, ''Lovers and Friends'' which would later be retooled into ''For Richer, For Poorer''. Both shows fared worse in the ratings than ''Somerset''.

''Somerset'', along with ABC's '' The Best of Everything'' and '' A World Apart'', marked the last time that more than two American network daytime serials premiered on the same date. Neither of the ABC shows lasted past 1971.

After the final episode aired on December 31, 1976, the following message was transmitted:

Cast

More than 150 actors appeared on Somerset over its near-seven-year run.

Original cast:
* Jason Bernard: Ricky Matthews (1970)
* Douglas Chapin: Tony Cooper (1970–71)
* Jordan Charney: Sam Lucas (1970–73)
* Ralph Clanton: Jasper Delaney (1970–71)
* Nicolas Coster: Robert Delaney (1970–72)
* Len Gochman: Peter Delaney (1970–72)
* Alice Hirson: Marsha Davis (1970–72)
* Georgann Johnson: Ellen Grant (1970–76)
* Ed Kemmer: Ben Grant (1970–74)
* Ron Martin: David Grant (1970–74)
* Walter Mathews: Gerald Davis (1970–72)
* Susan MacDonald: Jill Grant (1970–76)
* Wynne Miller: Jessica Buchanan (1970–72)
* Carol Roux: Missy Palmer Matthews (1970)
* Gary Sandy: Randy Buchanan (1970–72)
* Paul Sparer: Rex Cooper (1970–76)
* Phil Sterling: Rafe Carter (1970–71)
* Dorothy Stinnette: Laura Delaney Cooper (1970–73)
* Ernest Thompson: Tony Cooper (1971–74)
* Pamela Toll: Pammy Davis (1970–71)
* Marie Wallace: India Delaney (1970–72)
* Ann Wedgeworth: Lahoma Lucas (1970–73)

Other cast members:

* Humbert Allen Astredo: Joe Bruno (1970)
* Bibi Besch: Eve Lawrence (1973–76)
* Gene Bua: Steve Slade (1976)
* Joel Crothers: Julian Cannell (1972–76)
* Ted Danson: Tom Conway (1974–76)
* Veleka Gray: Victoria Paisley (1975–76)
* Harriet Hall: Andrea Moore (1972–74)
* Barry Jenner: Tony Cooper (1974–76)
* Lois Kibbee: Emily Moore Matson (1972–73)
* Audrey Landers: Heather Lawrence (1974–76)
* Michael Nouri: Tom Conway (1976)
* James O'Sullivan: Dr. Jerry Kane (1974–76)
* Jameson Parker: Dale Robinson (1976)
* Christopher Pennock: Dana Moore (1972–73)
* Jane Rose: Becky Winkle (1974–75)
* Frank Schofield: Philip Matson (1972–73)
* Richard Shoberg: Mitch Farmer (1971–72)
* Tina Sloan: Kate Cannell (1974–76)
* Lois Smith: Zoe Cannell (1972–73)
* Sigourney Weaver: Avis Ryan (1976)
* JoBeth Williams: Carrie Wheeler (1975–76)
* Meg Wittner: Ginger Kurtz Cooper (1972)

References

External links

''Somerset'' at the Internet Movie Database



Somerset Online

{{Portal, Television

American television soap operas
Another World (TV series)
NBC original programming
1970s American drama television series
1970 American television series debuts
1976 American television series endings
American television spin-offs
Television series by Procter & Gamble Productions
Television shows set in Michigan
English-language television shows